beauty in all she is
by chalantness
Summary: Most people might find it a little intimidating, all of these small quirks drilled into her by her persisting lifestyle, but he finds them kind of adorable.


**Title: **_beauty in all she is  
_**Rating:** T  
**Word Count:** 1,200+  
**Characters:** Steve/Natasha with Tony/Pepper on the side  
**Summary:** Most people might find it a little intimidating, all of these small quirks drilled into her by her persisting lifestyle, but he finds them kind of adorable.  
**Prompt:** media. tumblr. moc/ tumblr _ m9rbh4nXFE1qhxhiz. jpg (switch "moc" to "com" and delete the spaces)

**beauty in all she is  
**

It's the tail end of summer, but it's still warm enough for them to be out in the evening in the middle of this field where Pepper suggested they have a picnic. And he likes that she did, because it feels like it's been forever since he's seen everyone.

He still gets to see Natasha every day, though, so he really has nothing to complain about.

He kind of felt a little weird at first about moving in with her. Not because he didn't want to – of course he did, or else they wouldn't even have considered it – but they'd obviously be sharing the master bedroom and sleeping in the same room, let alone the same _bed_, with a woman he wasn't married to wasn't how he was raised.

Of course, he'd already broken the whole _abstaining until marriage_ rule and so moving in with her was like some form of atonement for that.

Anyway.

They're lying down on a blanket with their fingers threaded between them, away from where the others are sitting.

He rolls his head to look at her, with her red curls splayed beneath her head and her eyes staring up at the colored sky above them, and smiles. "A penny for your thoughts," he says, running the pad of his thumb over her skin.

"I'm thinking about what we're getting Tony and Pepper for a wedding gift."

He laughs.

"It's not funny!" She's smiling, though, so he doesn't think she's actually mad at him. "What do you get a guy that has everything he wants and can buy the rest?"

He shrugs, because he honestly doesn't know.

"Thanks for the help."

He grins and brings the back of her hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss to it as she squeezes their fingers a little.

"Don't buy for Tony, then," he tells her simply, and she tilts her head to look up at him. "Buy for Pepper," he says, and he watches her narrow her eyes a little like she does when she's thinking. Most people might find it a little intimidating, all of these small quirks drilled into her by her persisting lifestyle, but he finds them kind of adorable.

He told her this once, too, and that was the night they shared their first kiss.

"I wonder what I could… _oh_."

He feels her slip her hand from his, and he smiles when she lays herself against his chest and lets out an exaggerated huff at her added weight of like, two pounds.

She rolls her eyes. "I hardly think I'm crushing you, Super Soldier," she teases, and he grins as his arms slide around her waist. "Hey, do you think Pepper and I are the same size?"

Okay, he wasn't expecting that.

"Um…"

She smiles at him. "And can you be honest?" she asks, and see, _that's_ what makes him feel like he's walking into a trap here. Because not only is Natasha some sort of expert on making him squirm, but she knows that he's always honest with her, so why would she need to ask him to be?

So he tells her truthfully, "I don't know how I'm supposed to answer that," and loves the way she laughs, even if he's still a little confused right now.

"Answer honestly," she tells him, tilting her head a little. "It's going to help me with their present."

He raises his eyebrows. "It is?"

"Mhmm. In a way it's for both of them." He's still really confused, but she adds, "I'm getting it at that store you won't even look at," and then his cheeks flush kind of instantly because, yeah, he finally knows what she's talking about.

"Oh," he mumbles. "You mean the pink one?"

"Yup."

"Right," he says, clearing his throat a little. "Well, uh… I suppose you two would be… the same size. I mean, I've never really looked at Pepper like that, at all, but—"

Her laughter cuts him off, and she tips her head forward and presses their lips together.

At first it surprises him. But then he closes his eyes and places his hands over her hips, kisses her like he does when he'll come home to her or she'll come home to him or they'll come home together and she'll lay him against their bed and slide her lips over his without saying anything.

When they pull away, she says softly, "You really are from another time."

He chuckles.

She'll say stuff like that sometimes, commenting on how he says and does these things that reflect the time he came from. He knows she doesn't mean it as a reminder of everything he had to go through and he doesn't take it like that, but it makes him wonder if she's just comparing him to the guys of this time or to the guys that she's encountered. He'd prefer to think of it as the former simply because he hates to think that anyone would treat her anything less than she deserves.

"And you know," she adds, smiling again, "maybe when I go shopping at the pink store, _I_ can buy something for myself, too."

"Natasha…"

"Relax," she tells him. And he does. "We're not going to do anything we're not ready for."

He's still blushing, but he grins at her and threads his fingers into her hair, pushing it over her shoulder. He loves it when she says things like that, about them being together, because it took a lot of effort to step out of his comfort zone and tell her that whether she liked it or not, he wasn't going to let her be alone anymore.

(That was also the night he told her that he loved her. It's probably one of his three favorite nights, all of which include her.)

He nods. "Okay," he says, and then grasps her chin in his fingers and kisses her lips again. "You know, we should probably stop ignoring the others now."

"No," she groans, pushing off of him and flopping onto her back.

"'Tasha," he laughs.

She shakes her head and turns onto her side so that her back is to him. He gives an amused smile. Not many people get to see Natasha like this – only him, the guys, Pepper, and Maria, and he sees it the most because they live together – and it's definitely his favorite side to her.

"Come on. I'll carry you," he tells her, and she tilts her head to give him a smile.

"Well, if you insist."

He shakes his head in amusement as she gets up, sitting up and wrapping her arms around his neck from behind. He tucks his hands behind the bend of her knee as he's getting to his feet, and then waits as she shifts a little to get more comfortable on his back.

As they're heading back to the where the others are sitting across the field, he says, "I love you," because he means it and always wants to tell her.

Sometimes she'll say it back, but most of the time she'll give him this _smile_ right before giving him a kiss.

This time she does both.


End file.
